


Peace in the Aftermath

by TheNerveToServe



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Gen, Itty bitty spoilers, Mentions of Gloria Potter, Mentions of Maude and Ezra, Post "Sins of the Past", learning how to use this system so went with something little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 19:11:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8459635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNerveToServe/pseuds/TheNerveToServe
Summary: After all the gunfire in the street, Inez figured no one else would come into the saloon for the rest of the day. 
Takes place right after "Sins of the Past" ending.





	

**Author's Note:**

> First time using AO3 so I'm testing out the system with an older story! Enjoy! I own nothing--it belongs to MGM and other folks.

Inez looked up when the batwing doors swung open. She expected it to be Ezra returning. No one else had darkened the doorway all day. After the sudden burst of gunplay in the street, why would anyone else want to come wandering in? 

A lanky man in worn buckskins stood in the doorway, skimming the room with a furrowed brow. Then he looked over at her and his confusion deepened.

“Senor?” She called out. “Trying to find room?” Grinning wryly, she swept her arm over the empty room. “We’ve got a small spot up here at the bar.” 

Her words made him smile slightly, lifting the dark air hanging over him for a second. Then the expression faded and the cloud closed in again. 

She tilted her head as he headed right to the bar’s corner, leaning up against the polished wood. He hadn’t come in during the handful of days she’d worked here, but he acted like a regular. He had ‘his’ spot where he could see the door out of the corner of his eye and in the mirror above the bar. 

“Whiskey?” She gestured at the bottles behind her.

He nodded and she turned, grabbing one and a glass. A glance in the mirror gave her a chance to give him the once-over. The way his shoulders were slumping under the weight of his coat made him looked sick in his very soul. 

“Long ride?” She turned back around and set the glass in front of him, empathy in her voice. She filled the glass and pushed it toward him. 

“You could say that…” His eyes drilled into the wood, focusing intently on the grain. This man was barely in the saloon—his body was standing in front of her but his spirit was miles away. She pushed the bottle toward his elbow and left it. The man didn’t seem to notice. 

After a minute of quiet, she grabbed a towel from under the bar and started rubbing a tiny spot in the middle of the gleaming wood. There wasn’t much else to do here with one customer who didn’t want to talk. 

He picked his drink up and looked at it. After studying the amber liquid, he tossed it back and filled the glass again. “Where’d the ol’ bartender go?” He finally broke the silence. 

“I don’t know.” She admitted. “Before he hired me, Senor Standish was running the place by himself.” 

Her patron made a sound she thought was a chuckle. “Looks like he didn’t have much’ta do.” He glanced over his shoulder at the empty room. 

She laughed quietly, “His mother runs the hotel across the way—they’re trying to out-do each other. She’s winning so far.”

The man glanced up from his half-finished drink. “Maude runs that hotel? I thought she was just stayin’ there.” He paused as if in thought and then grunted slightly. “Guess I owe her a ‘plogy.”

Inez eyed him again, curious how he knew Ezra’s mother. Her first guess had been that he a wanderer who passed through regularly. The way he spoke of Ezra and Maude with such familiarity, though…

Tucking her towel into her sash, she held her hand out. “Inez Recillos.” 

The movement startled him but then he shook the offered hand, “Vin Tanner.” 

As soon as he said his name, pieces started clicking into place for Inez. 

Gloria Potter at the general store had cheerfully given Inez details on all of the town’s protectors except for Vin. When Gloria reached his name, she crossed herself quickly and said something about ‘that poor man’ before refusing to say more about it. 

Despite Gloria’s secrecy, it didn’t take Inez long to hear about Vin being dragged off by the US Marshal. The rumor was he had to stand trial somewhere in Texas for murder. 

Her mouth opened slightly, a question sitting on her tongue, and then she changed her mind. She didn’t want anyone knowing why she came here so she wasn’t going to ferret into his business. Everyone had a right to their secrets. 

She pulled her hand back with a slight smile and saw embarrassment flicker in his blue eyes before he looked back at his glass. He’d probably been hearing it already—people asking what he was doing back and why he wasn’t in jail.

“Are you hungry?” She asked without warning, remembering the food she’d been making. She had made a large dish in case Ezra came back and wanted something besides his self-chosen liquid diet so there was enough to share.

Vin looked up in surprise, and that was answer enough for her. “I’ll be right back.” She headed to the curtained side door, which led downstairs to the kitchen. She came back a few minutes later with two plates of food.

“Here.” She placed one plate in front of him and started to eat her share. Vin finished his whiskey and picked up his fork. The first bite was tentative, testing to see what she’d given him. Then he started shoveling the food down. 

She frowned when he cleaned the plate in record time. “When was the last time you had a full meal, Senor Tanner?”

He paused to think, “Two days….three maybe…” He said finally. 

Anyone who had to stop and count the days since their last meal hadn’t eaten enough recently. 

The food gone, he set the fork on the plate and piled his glass on top. “These go downstairs?” 

“Yes…but you don’t need to take them down. I’ll just do it when I’m done” She glanced around the room and then sighed before scooping up another mouthful, “I’ve got nothing else to do right now.”

“I need to ‘pologize to Mrs. Standish ‘bout messin’ up her place but I wanna do it on my terms. I reckon that if I go out the front; she’s probably waitin’ with a shotgun. If I take the back stairs, I can sneak up on her.” His dishes in one hand, he tipped his hat to her with his other. “Thanks for the meal, ma’am.” His smile touched his troubled eyes for a moment and then he headed for the curtained door.

She listened to his boots going down the stairs and then, a moment later, the back door opened and closed again. 

Stepping away from her half-finished meal, she grabbed the bottle and spotted a coin laying on the counter. She scooped it up and smiled. Vin had left a quarter when she wasn’t looking, which was more than enough to pay for his two drinks, and the unexpected meal. Flipping it up, she caught it and then took it over to the till. 

A quarter today was more than they’d made yesterday.


End file.
